Developers behind plans for a multi-million pound flats and shops development have hit out at 'idiots' who started a fire on the site.

Police and firefighters were called in after a disused building on the Shelton site was set alight in the middle of the night.

Developer JEDS Investments is waiting to demolish the building after buying the land from Stoke-on-Trent College last year.

It has lodged plans to build 939 student flats on the land. The proposed development will also include a bistro and convenience store on the ground floor as well as a gym, laundry, cinema, IT room, games area and study pods.

The flats development planned for College Road, Shelton

But the Shelton site has been repeatedly targeted by vandals in recent months.

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“We are patiently waiting to hear from the planning department because we want to get the building demolished and our crews on site.”

The former college buildings will be bulldozed to make way for student flats

Fire crews were called to the land off College Road at 2am yesterday. The fire was extinguished within 20 minutes.

A Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “We were called to a fire in a disused building. Appliances from Hanley and Newcastle attended and used breathing apparatus and hose-reel jets to put out the fire. It was deliberate ignition and Staffordshire Police attended the incident.